Limestone — 1,850 MW coal plant, Limestone County, TX

Limestone — 1,850 MW coal plant, Limestone County, TX · Ask the Grid

Generation and physical site

EIA plant 298 · Inventory for Sep 2026.

Reported operating nameplate by technology

Coal: 1,849.8 MW

Operating generators only. Battery power is in MW; stored energy is in MWh. These ratings do not establish a shared export limit.

Generator records (2)

EIA generator status and nameplate capacity for Limestone
Generator	Technology	Status	Power (MW)	Energy (MWh)
1	Conventional Steam Coal	Operating	893	Unknown
2	Conventional Steam Coal	Operating	956.8	Unknown

Physical map location · OpenStreetMap: 31.42050, -96.25341
Filed location · EIA: 31.42190, -96.25250

Sources and observation dates

Inventory source: EIA-860M workbook (preliminary)
EIA reporting month: Sep 2026
EIA retrieved: Oct 24, 2026
OSM extract: Oct 9, 2026
OSM last mapped edit: Feb 12, 2023
Map prepared: Oct 24, 2026
Field verification: Not reported

Reporting month describes the inventory. Retrieval and map preparation describe processing; an OSM edit does not establish an in-service date.

EIA source inventory

Units and generators

Current generator records and technology attributes reported through EIA-860.

Generator	Capacity	Technology	Operation	Status
1	893 MW 831 MW summer	Conventional Steam Coal ST	Dec 1985	Operating
2	956.8 MW 857 MW summer	Conventional Steam Coal ST	Dec 1986	Operating

Performance

Monthly EIA generation history and recent market-resource behavior where linked telemetry is available.

Peer context

Technology capacity: 1,849.8 MW; Conventional Steam Coal
National rank: #22; of 205 operating peers
TX rank: #3; of 11 operating peers

Monthly generation

Download CSV

Latest 12 months

6.71 TWh

Reported net generation

Latest report

Jul 2026

EIA-923 monthly filing

2025 capacity factor

46.4%

Using current reported nameplate capacity

Monthly generation is reported through EIA-923. Capacity factor uses the current EIA nameplate capacity and is shown only for complete calendar years.

ERCOT disclosed dispatch

2 ERCOT market resources · Coal / lignite

Generation

3 mo through Aug 27, 2026

Avg output

992 MW

Peak output

1,657 MW

Capacity factor

60%

Uptime

86%

Capacity factor is average output vs. this plant's observed peak.

Output by hourlocal time · 90 days through Aug 27, 2026

0:006:0012:0018:0024:00

Latest disclosed outputhourly · 2 weeks ending Aug 27, 2026

Generation from ERCOT's 60-Day SCED Disclosure (≈60-day lag), summed over this site's market resources.

Settlement price economics

Observed ERCOT settlement prices at LEG_LEG_G1 over 365 days (2025-10-26 to 2026-10-25). This plant is also crosswalked to LEG_LEG_G2; the point with the deepest price history is shown.

Average price: $31.43/MWh
Hourly range: -$35 to $785
Negative price hours: 278
TB2 spread benchmark: $43.6/kW-yr

The TB2 figure is a price benchmark, not revenue: it values one perfect-foresight cycle per day between the 2 cheapest and 2 dearest hours of each day, gross of round-trip losses, and excludes ancillary services and any physical dispatch constraint. It describes what this node’s price shape was worth over the window — it is not this asset’s realized capture, and no dispatch is assumed or modelled.

Related parties and identifiers

Parties, market resources, and identifiers tied to this asset, with owner, operator, developer, EPC, compliance provider, and interconnecting entity roles kept separate.

Relationship graph

Drag organizations to explore the network. Select a node to pin its details and available page link.

AssetOwner / operatorEquipmentMarket / regulatorOrganizationRelated asset

Parties and identifiers

OrganizationRoleBasis

NRG Texas Power LLCOwner / operatorCurrent owner and operator

NRG Energy, Inc.Parent companyParent company

Texas Genco LLCFormer owner / operator

Reporting portfolio

EIA reporting entity

NRG Texas Power LLC

Entity 54888

Operating portfolio

6 plants

1 states

Reported capacity

9,186.5 MW

Conventional Steam Coal · Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle · Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine

Largest reported plants in this portfolio
Largest reported plants	Capacity	State
W A Parish	4,008.4 MW	TX
LimestoneCurrent	1,849.8 MW	TX
Cedar Bayou	1,530 MW	TX
T H Wharton	1,189.9 MW	TX
Greens Bayou	432 MW	TX
San Jacinto Steam Electric Station	176.4 MW	TX

Portfolio membership follows the latest EIA-860 reporting entity. It does not imply ultimate ownership.

Timeline and sources

Project milestones and public references behind the asset profile.

Project timeline

Dec 1985
Dec 1985
Generator enters operationEIA-860
EIA-860 lists generator 1 with this operating date.
Dec 1986
Dec 1986
Generator enters operationEIA-860
EIA-860 lists generator 2 with this operating date.
Jun 12, 2006
Jun 12, 2006
NRG filed the Limestone-3 air-permit applicationinvestors.n...
NRG proposed a new 800 MW pulverized-coal unit (Limestone 3) adjacent to the existing station, with an expected $1.2 billion investment and an anticipated 2012 operating date. This was a proposed expansion, not part of the existing EIA plant 298.
View 1 more milestoneHide 1 milestone
1. Aug 4, 2008
  Aug 4, 2008
  Limestone-3 expansion received environmental support agreementsinvestors.n...
  The proposed Limestone 3 third-unit expansion formed part of NRG Texas's repowering program and included commitments concerning emissions, carbon offsets or sequestration, water use, and other environmental matters.
Dec 6, 2012
Dec 6, 2012
Limestone-3 permit expired without constructionpowermag.com
NRG announced it was canceling the Limestone-3 project. The company chose not to pursue the project before the 18-month validity of air permits obtained from the Texas Commission on Environment Quality (TCEQ) in December 2009 expired. NRG stated the reason was purely gas economics.
Aug 27, 2026
Aug 27, 2026
Latest disclosed generation interval
ERCOT SCED disclosure is delayed, so plant performance windows end at the latest disclosed interval.
Dec 31, 2029
Dec 31, 2029
Planned retirement date reported for LIM1 and LIM2publicpower...
A 2023 regulatory filing citing EIA-860 data reported December 2029 retirement dates for both Limestone generators (LIM1 and LIM2). NRG's subsequent 2024 portfolio disclosure still listed Limestone as a 100%-owned ERCOT facility, indicating this is a planned retirement date rather than a completed retirement.

Sources

PublisherReferenceType

U.S. Energy Information AdministrationEIA-860 generator inventoryFederal registry

U.S. Energy Information AdministrationEIA-923 generation filingsFederal filing

ERCOTERCOT 60-Day SCED disclosureMarket disclosure

Common questions about Limestone

Answered from the published record above. Questions whose inputs this profile does not carry are omitted rather than estimated.

How big is Limestone?

Limestone reports 1,849.8 MW coal of operating nameplate capacity. These technology ratings do not establish a common export limit. Source: EIA Sep 2026.

What kind of plant is Limestone?

Limestone is a Conventional Steam Coal facility in Limestone County, TX, participating in the ERCOT market.

Where is Limestone located?

Limestone is in Limestone County, TX, inside the ERCOT balancing area.

Who operates Limestone?

Limestone is operated by NRG Texas Power LLC according to the EIA generator inventory. Reporting membership does not by itself establish ultimate ownership.

How much electricity does Limestone generate?

Limestone reported 6,705.4 GWh over the twelve months to 2026-07. Figures are net generation as filed to EIA-923.

How does Limestone compare to other plants?

By capacity, Limestone ranks #22 of 205 operating plants of the same technology nationally. It ranks #3 of 11 in TX.

Co-located assets

Plants within 25 km, nearest first, regardless of technology. Proximity is straight-line distance between mapped plant coordinates; it does not by itself establish a shared point of interconnection.

Diver Solar, LLCSolar PhotovoltaicSolar Photovoltaic225 MW23 km

Overview

Infrastructure record

Overview

Infrastructure record

Explore related directories

Structured profile

Generation and physical site

Reported operating nameplate by technology

Related assets

Oak Grove (TX)

Fayette Power Project

Martin Lake

J K Spruce

Major Oak Power

W A Parish